sunday. >> fox news sunday is a presentation of fox news. tonight on huckabee. >> everybody is allowed to hang their minds. you have to explain why. >> charles kraut hammer on politics and what really matters. >> elegant and beautiful in life. just -- >> it's a small part of the universe he created. >> the last man to walk on the moon. gene joins the governor. plus -- >> the furthest thing to come out of my mouth is negative. everything is bad. >> al trips to the holy land are helping american heroes heal

from their scars. >> i think it gave me a little spark. ♪ >> thank you, everybody, and welcome to huckabee from the fox news studios in new york city. great audience. as you and your family injoy thanksgiving weekend together, it really would be a great day to make a list of some things that you should be thankful for, but maybe never thought about. now, when i heard about someone in new jersey who complained that the sound of revely and the star-spangled banner from a nearby naval base disturbed their peace, my reaction was not one of sympathy for their pain. i live on the gulf coast these days surrounded by some of america's premier military

installations. edland air force base, home of the joint strike fighter along with hurlberth field, the training center for special ops forces are near fort walton beach, which are just a few miles from me. kindle air force base is in panama city where f-22 raptors and helicopter gun ships are deployed. the pensacola naval air station, not too far west of me, is home of the blue angels. these are the tough all brays who fly into a storm that sometimes rescue people who are as dumb as the coast guard is brave. i'm used to low-flying aircraft zooming above my house, sometimes rattling the windows. i can see navy ships in the gulf going through manner you'ves, and my reaction when the planes come screaming near is to smile and say thank you because those sounds are not the sounds of

annoyance. those are the sounds of freedom. i never tire of hearing them. those sounds mean that the most moefshated and highly trained men and women in the heft of the military are on the job to provide a safety net of security for my family. i would prefer that than what has been put there by america's enemies. in fact, i feel that way. i tell you this, if the army, navy, air force, marines or coast guards, if they want to blast revely on the national anthem in my neighborhood in the morning, so be it. if they're getting up that early to protect me, then i sure as heck ought to be willing to drag my butt out of bed to salute them. i've been in parts of the world where battles are fought in the

very neighborhoods where children live. or at least they try to live. i have been in homes and schools and synagogues where palestinians fired rockets from gaza attempting to murder israeli children. the sound of an f-35 over my head is far more comforting to me than the sound of an enemy rocket soaring into my kitchen. so if you hear some noise coming from a military installation near you, instead of calling city hall and whining about it, how about a call to heaven and tell god that you appreciate being an american and maybe you would ask if he could please keep an eye out for those folks who are making the noise.

sflool according to the va 22 -- now there's a group called heroes to heroes. their mission is to help veterans heal by taking them on a spirit wham journey to israel. judy shafer, the founder of heroes to heroes. retired sergeant charles hernandez spent two years in iraq with the army national guard and says his trip to israel saved his marriage to his wife leonette and allowed him to reunite with his family. let's talk to him right now. >> so many organizations reach out to veterans, and i'm wondering, you know, because we these organizations, is that an indication that maybe the v.a. and the official government entities just aren't doing all they ought to be doing? >> this is a big country, and the v.a. has a huge, huge job. there is no way one organization

can handle everything. there are so many aspects to the challenges our veterans have, and as an american, as a mother, it's hard for me to let it all go. i couldn't -- i couldn't just let these young men and women who raise their hands to volunteer so my son could go on with their lives. i couldn't let it go. >> is that how you got started? was that the motive's for it all? >> that was the motivation, and i think as parents and as american parents my family is intact. my children are able to go to college and continue with their lives because many young men and women raise their hands. they volunteer. they offered to go. their families are broken. i met some of those mothers, and as a mother i couldn't say it's okay that -- hey, it's okay and just walk away. >> very interesting concept.

you take american heroes, and you take them to israel, and you introduce them to their israeli counterparts, and i want to begin with you. your husband came back from iraq, had serious difficulty with post traumatic stress disorder. you guys were separated from three years. when he first came back, did you know something was wrong? >> oh, absolutely. >> it wasn't, like, subtle? >> he was a different person when he came back from the war. >> what you were afraid of? >> i was afraid of him doing something to me or to himself, you know? he was angry all the time. couldn't sleep. bad dreams wrish try my best to comfort him. >> charles, how did you first hear of that heroes to heroes and what did you think of it? >> it was actually a friend who told me he needed a break. needed to go out and reach and i was losing faith and i didn't have anything to really stand

on, to connect with. i got the information to judy, and i explained to her my situation. she said, yeah, you should. you should. when i told her i was going to my wife and family, everything was already broken, you know? i mean, you can be here, but you can't drew brees not here in your heart. it's not here. everything is hard to connect. >> you knew something was wrong too. you weren't just saying, oh, i'm fine. everything is great. >> it was me. everything -- the first thing to come out of my house was negative. everything was bad. everything was rude. everything was a challenge. everything was not a thought process. everything had to be wrong. everything -- i just fought against the world. it was just wrong. >> when you got to israel, what happened? what changed? what impacted you that made things different? >> you know, when you go home, you want to be embraced by your loved ones, be embraced by your people and embrace bid those that put there you respectfully

because that was a job that you did. i'm not jewish, and i went there, you know. i'm a catholic. the first thing they did was shalome. welcome. you're home. to say that to me, like, wow, you know, it just took me to another level. someone says you're home and when i went home to the states and i didn't get the how are you doing, that took a lot out of me. you know? >> did you come back home a different person when you had made the trip with heroes to heroes, made that trip to israel? when you got back, what was different? >> the trip was overwhelming to me. i think israel gave me a little spark in me and told me you can

do it. we know have you this. try to manage it and work with it. the people the events, the places, they all gave a helping hand to make sure that i was okay. >> that's valerie, your service dog, who is speaking up. he is disappointed that i have not asked him a question. >> probably. probably so. >> by the way, charles, that's one big dog, by the way. >> yes yes. >> now, understand part lab and part dane? >> yes. >> i think there's more dane than lab in the dog. >> right now, yes. >> when charles came back from israel, did you sense something was different in him? >> absolutely. he was more -- he communicated better. he wasn't as angry. i mean, he still has work to do, but i want to thank judy so much for helping my husband because it really is a different life now. >> well, it's a beautiful story, and it's an incredible organization heroes to heroes. you guys are celebrating your first christmas together this

year? >> yes. >> wonderful. >> well, i hope you have a magnificent christmas. judy, thanks for you to help make this be a beautiful christmas. you're going to stay with us. up next you're going to hear from a veteran who says his trip to the holy land saved him from killing himself. judy will stay with us. you better as well. we'll be right back. >> i want so hear from you. go to my website mike huckabee.com. more on

>> group is called heroes to heroes. its mission is to send vets to the holy land and find peace after the post traumatic stress they've endured. the group's founder judy shafer and along with judy harrison,

who served with the u.s. army for eight years until combat injuries suffered in iraq forced him to retire. he says before his trip to israel in 2012 he was living in darkness, and greg served with the marines as a scout sniper in both iraq and afghanistan. he just returned from israel less than a month ago. great to have you back. >> you said this group saved your life. now, that's pretty dramatic. how did they do that? >> the thing was is that at the time coming back from iraq i was feeling depressed. i didn't have anyone to, you know, counter any things that i was going through. didn't know how to act or what ptsd was. there was a phone call that was made to me from team red, white,

and blue that someone knew from heroes to heroes. it was actually august 10th that i got the phone call, and i just visited a v.a. i went went to the v.a. they gave me more medication and said, hey, this is what you need to do, and i told myself i can't take any more medicine. my faith isn't there anymore. i'm going to do something. it's going to be today. i don't want to be here anymore. and i got a phone call that same day. my kids were at school. i was alone at home, and i got they said heroes to heroes wants to send someone from the houston team and says, hey, would you be willing to go? i want to thank heroes to heroes for saving my life and my kids' lives. >> on the day you were thinking of suicide, heroes to heroes called. you ended up in israel and getting baptized in the jordan river? >> yes, sir. yes, sir. it was -- [ applause ]

it was amazing. truly amazing. >> you just got back from israel a month ago, and i think one of the things that's remarkable about heroes to heroes is it's not just for christians. it's not just for jewish. it's for anybody, but there's a certain connection i think in israel no matter what a person's faith is because it's home to really three very significant faiths that we know of in christianity, judaism, and islam. tell me about your experience. you just got back. what did it do for you? >> it's tough to put into words. it was life-changing. growing up as a catholic, my mom dragged me to church every saturday, every sunday. it was an obligation. as i grew up, i kind of got away from that. to be able to go back and stand on the spot that you grau up and to be able to experience the energy and the positive that was just there, i think i was just emotionally hit every day by

something one place or another. it was really moving in so many ways. >> and you planted a tree because that's a very important tradition in israel is to plant a tree and reforest the country. when you planted that tree, did you feel like you were saying there's something here that 20, 30, 50, 100 years from now may still be here at my hands put there? >> i was picked on a little bit. i took a gps with me wherever i went, and i have the gps -- the group that was there before us, their trees were already taller and growing strong, and, you know, between us and god making it grow, we planted a few that day, and i shared my tree, one of my trees, with one of my israeli veteran friends that i met over there, and between the two of us, we put a tree down for our fallen war yoez and his fallen warriors. it's going to grow, and it's going to be forever. >> tell me about the connection you had with your israeli counterparts. these are men and women soldiers of the defense forces. how did that impact you?

>> you know, getting the chance to meet them and spending ten days with these guys completely changed how you view the culture there when it comes to israeli and the military and the pridefulness they have in each other. it showed brotherhood like we were part of their army, and they didn't know us. i really appreciated that because these men and women is something that they're doing this. two-year service or four years, or whatever it is that they do. the entire country serves and has served. it just made us feel like there was a connection, like we're going to be brothers and sisters for the rest of our lives because we know what it is to be in war. we know what it is to be ptsd or dealing with darkness or invisible wounds or physical wounds. it was just amazing. it really connected me to them. >> i want to say to both of you, i'm so glad you were introduced to heroes to heroes. so glad that you were able to go

to israel. i have been between 25 and 30 times myself over the past 40 years. judy, thank you. thank you for what are you doing. you have never worn a uniform, but in many ways you too are a hero to reach out and care for these veterans who have served our country and to give them the hope of restoring their faith. i hope people will support heroes to heroes and you will continue to make this kind of impact on these great americans just like you two. thank you so much, all of you. >> coming up, best-selling author and commentator charles krauthammer. what really matters to him this thanksgiving weekend? well, he'll just ask him when we come back.

zoo know my next guest. as long as the syndicated conservative column. did you know that charles krauthammer wasn't always into politics? he wasn't always a conservative. that's right. he is the author of the number one book on the "new york times" best sellers list "things that matter." great to have you here. thank you so much. we see you always with these very strong and bold and clear, sometimes edgy comments about politics. there's a lot more to charles krauthammer than politics how did that become such an interest to you? >> well, you know, part of the book is about the things i find elegant and beautiful in life. i write about chess. i write about baseball. i write about space. i write about a lot of things, and, in fact, my original intention, governor, was to

write a book that was called there's more to life than politics, and do nothing but those kinds of things. in the end i decided i couldn't really do that, and i spent seven years in my younger days to become a writer and be involved in political discourse, and the reason is that in the end politics, however grubby it is and grasping and, you know, this can be very cynical and manipulative. for all of that in the end everything, all the lovely things in life, the high elements of our culture, the beauty, the excellence of human flourishing, all of that depends on getting the mrekz right, and those societies where they get the politics wrong, everything else dissolves, and that's sort of why i sort of change my career, and it's also why i put a lot of the politics in the book even though, as you say, i write about baseball and other kinds of things that show human excellence. >> i just want to clarify that

you are one of the true harvard medical school graduates who did not quit medicine because of obama care? just to establish that. >> well, you know, it is funny how some of my classmates -- i graduated way back in the 1970s. they say to me, how did you know to get out of medicine 30 years ago? the answer is i had no idea it was going to go downhill as badly as it is. i had no idea the pressures on doctors, how much more they have to work, how many more patients they have to see, how their payments have been reduced, how their autonomy has been attacked. i had no idea, of course, of how badly it would become under obama care where all of those trends are really accentuated. even though medicine say wonderfully noble life, i felt outside the walls of the hospital there was history going on, az know you know as your involvement in politics. you want to be involved in that because so much, so much of

other people's lives depend on getting it right. >> this book in many ways, i think, introduced people to who you are. they see you on special report. they know what you think. they know what you believe. they read your column. the personal side of charles krauthammer had never been revealed like this. was any of the reluctance to sort of open yourself up like that because of the background of psychiatry and you want to analyze others and didn't want to let others see you? did that have anything to do with it at all? >> um not sure that that's the reason. i think it's because when i write my column i try not to use the word i. this is in contrast to a certain president of the united states who can't leer his throat without saying the word i. i know you know who. our audience certainly agree with that assessment.

>> i'll try to give him a break for at least one week. i find that my life is less interesting than the world. i try not to do that. i did think, especially because, as you mentioned earlier, i started out as a doctor because i started out in my 20s as a liberal that, you know, everybody is allowed to change their mind, but if are you in public life, you have an obligation to explain why. that's why i wrote the introduction, a very long introduction, that essentially is autobiographical to try to explain those changes in my life. the vocational and the idealogical. i think i owe that to my readers. >> well, coming up, i'm going to ask charles about what caused this transformation from liberal to conservative. that's worth staying around for. we'll be right back with a number one "new york times" best selling author charles krauthammer.

>> we're back with charles

krauthammer. you did not start out as a conservative. you tended to be a little left of center. what made you say, whoa, this is not where i need to be? >> well, let me just say i'm not the first to make a migration. there was a certain ronald reagan who started out as a democrat. this is a well troden path. you know the old adage, if you're not a socialist when you're 20, you have no heart. if you are still a socialist when you are 50, you have no head. i acquired a head over many years, but, i mean, it really isn't that complicated. i never had an efif any, a moment where the skies parted and, i said, my god, i have been thinking the wrong way. what it really was is this. i was a great society liberal. i believe that society -- a good society, a decent society had an obligation to help the least among us, and what i thought of as a liberal, when i was a democrat in my 20s, was that a

great society in the war on poverty was the way to go about to do that. what changed me is very simple. i'm olympic to impeer cal evidence. i trained as a physician. if i'm giving out medicine and it's killing all of my patients, i'm going to stop the medicine and try something else. the evidence began to come in in the early 1980s. at the beginning of my 30s that showed that the great society in the war on poverty we're not only not helping and wasting all of that money, but they were undermine and destroying the very communities they were trying to help, and there was tons of evidence that began to emerge very good social came out in the 1908s and the 1990s that made that indisputable at which point i rethought my subpoenaingses. what's the better way to help those who need to be helped? what is the best way to organize society so people can be free f? it wasn't hard from there to go to where essentially i am today, a believer in smaller

government, more limited government, more individual freedom and liberty, and also prevent the big state, the entitlement state that liberals are so enaturalered of from crushing those simple society institutions -- family and church and community and association -- that are the essence of american society because that is one of the side effects of big government, and they are the treasured institutions that nurture the individual and create -- they are the engines of american genius and american liberty. >> you see a lot of college students who are ideaistic. do you think the light will come on someday for some of them, and had you do you talk to college students and say, hey, this is where i was, but here's where i ended up? >> i tell them, look, i know you have been taught by your professors that conservatives enjoy throwing orphans in the snow, so i'm here to tell you

that that's not really the case and that conservatives in many ways, like all americans, have the same objectives, a free society, a flewishing society, and looking after those who are helpless. i try to explain to them the difference between what we have in america, which is the safety net state and what they have in europe, which is the entitlement state where everybody is sort of cuddled and cradled by the government all their lives. here we believe that the free individual in choice, in risk, in enterprise, in energy, and the way to achieve a society that looks after the helpless, that produces the prosperity, that allows the support of the helpless, including orphans and others, is a free society with a flourishing economy. that's the essence of the argument. >> i think you just helped us understand why your book is number one on the "new york times" best seller list.

charles, it's an honor to have you here. thank you so much for coming in. >> it's a pleasure. well, my best selling book has been released in paperback, and i know you're employing to enjoy it. it's a great read for parents and grandparents, for you or maybe as a gift for someone. all right. the paperback edition of "dear chanted ler, dear scarlet." coming up, astronaut jean sternan, the last man to walk on the moon. we'll talk about how the declining state of our space program is a reflection of the direction of our country. that's next. [ grunts softly ] [ ding ] i sense you've overpacked, your stomach. try pepto to-go. it's pepto-bismol that fits in your pocket.

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>> each week day hear my -- details at mike huckabee.com. >> when i was a kid there were no begger celebrities around the massa astronauts. they were the rock stars of my generation. following our show tonight, fox news is going to air a special hosted by neil cavuto "fly me to the moon." one of the astronauts featured in the special is gene. >> first thing i remember is looking out at this mountainous valley and realizing that i am now where no human being has ever been before. >> it's beautiful. it's got to be one of the most brilliant moments miff life, i guarantee you. >> the whole time we were outside the spacecraft, it was

22 horz. that's the longest crew any crew has been outside the spacecraft. >> you wanted to be out there on the moon all the time. >> ron evans had never flown before, and i said, listen, guys, you all will only come this way once. >> i was strolling on the moon one day. >> enjoyed it, and they did, and i did. they bounced around. >> it was a natural response to our environment. >> when you leave the evert, you put yourself in a new environment of risk. people say, well, you have a lot of the guts. i didn't have guts. i knew what i was doing. didn't go to the moon not to come back. >> soon enough it was time to come back. not before the sight of the earth, blooming with color, atmosphere, and life in a cold, black sky profoundly affected him. >> i can promise you if i could take every human being with me for five minutes, stand them next to me on a surface of the moon and look back at the earth, the world meet very well be a

better place to live in today. there's in question in my mind that there is a creator to the universe. >> joining me now, the last man to walk on the moon, gene. gene, i have to tell you, imso hoshed, so thrilled to have you here. as i said at the beginning, when i grew up, the astronauts were the heroes for every kid my age. what are we losing, gene, by abandoning our space efforts? >> well, i think we're losing the vision and the commitment that john f. kennedy she the challenge she presented the mesh people with. we're looking at half a century of our excellence in space being

the leaders, being out m forefront, and, governor, in the last four years, it's really heartbreaking because in the last four years we've really torn that down. we've "transformed" the space program, and, unfortunately it's the way we are transforming the country. it bothers me tremendously. >> i can remember all the things we benefitted by. the spinoff from the space program are magnificent. everything from our gps to the digital watches and digital cameras and things that we take for granted. are we going to be behind scientifically because of our abandonment of this? >> to some degree i think, yes. i'm a little older than you, governor, and i appreciate your teenage comments, but i had 40 and 50-year-old young men and women coming up to me and

saying, captain, thank you. i'm a doctor. i'm a scientist. i'm an engineer. i'm a schoolteacher. i'm flying navy air force jets because of what you did. it wasn't because of what i did. it's because of what we were doing as a nation, committed to something that had never been done before. you know, when kennedy challenged us to go to the moon, i wasn't even in the space program. he is asking us to do the impossible. he is asking us to do what can't be done. of course, the rest is history. those -- the inspiration that the program provided for the last half century of those young men and women, those young kids and high school and college today doesn't exist. it's not there. that's what bothers me because it's that inspiration which builds the future of this

country, and we -- you know, it's very disheartening for me. i don't know. you may very well know jim -- we wrote a number of articles on op eds over the last several years. we had bipartisan support in the congress. it doesn't seem like much has happened in the last four or five years. >> you were the last man to the moon. that was 41 years ago. >> captain, i just can't imagine, i wouldn't have thought 41 years ago that we weren't going to go back, that our space program was going to be in this level of decline. >> if you look back on earth, we couldn't imagine people not believing in a creator. have we lost our imagination something bigger than ourselves?

>> you know, i said something else. people often ask, what's it like to go to the moon, and that's a tough question to answer, and if i could sum it up and i did in my book, it's like let your imagination wander. it's like sitting in god's front porch looking back at a small part of the universe that he created. it's almost inexplicable -- to be able to do that, to be able to go where no man has gone before, to be the leaders -- the world leaders, spiritual leaders as well as technological leaders is significant to this country. we always had been and not to be there today, what's wrong with this headline? 40, 50 years ago americans were walking on the moon.

today we're taking clean laundry to the space station. we cannot even put an american in space anywhere, much less go to the moon where he said made in the usa. that hurts. it ought to hurt everybody. >> it certainly should. captain, thank you. you certainly are a hero to me and to all americans who lived through that wonderful and magical time of the space program. i appreciate so much for you being here. it's an honor to have ow the show. thank you. >> don't miss the fox new special. fly me to the moon. coming up, irish tenor anthony kerns gets us in the christmas spirit with the traditional song for the holiday season. stay with us.

what are some holidays memories you have of growing up in ireland that you want to tell us interest? >> i love going home on tour in the states every we're for christmas. i go home the same time every so it's last minute dot-com kind of thing, straight home, down to the southeast coast of ireland, and it's total collapse. and we'd spend more time at christmastime in ireland, we take weeks out. so it's great. but i want to tell you a little

story. about four years ago, coming up from washington, d.c., on the train, i got the 12:00there was about 4, 5 deep, so the train stopped. along the way, we were 18 hours getting to new york. on that journey, i shared the train with guys and girls and the work they did was phenomenal. helping people on and off the train. ran out of food, ran out of water, got off at different stops. replenished the food and water. just a great bunch. they sang, entertained us, the best memory i've had. 18 hours on the train from new york, i managed to get to the airport, and thankfully, was able to get out and be home with my family for christmas. >> what will you sing for us today? >> "hark the herald angels sing." >> all right. ♪ ♪ hark the herald age jells

sinsin sing ♪ ♪ glory to the newborn king ♪ peace on earth and mercy mild ♪ ♪ god and sinners reconciled joyful, all ye nations rise ♪ ♪ join the triumph. the skies ♪ ♪ with the angelic host proclaim ♪ ♪ christ is born in bethlehem hark the herald angels sing glory to the newborn king ♪ ♪ christ by highest heaven adored ♪ ♪ christ the everlasting lord

♪ late in time behold him come offspring of a virgin's womb ♪ ♪ veiled in flesh the godhead see ♪ ♪ hail the incarnate deity ♪ pleased as man with man to dwell ♪ ♪ jesus, our emanuel ♪ hark the herald angels sing glory to the newborn king ♪ ♪ ♪ hail the heaven-born prince of peace ♪ ♪ hail the son of righteousne righteousness ♪ ♪ light and life to all he brings ♪

♪ risen with healing in his wings ♪ ♪ mild he lays his glory by born that man no more may die ♪ ♪ born to raise the sons of earth ♪ ♪ born to give them second bi h birth ♪ ♪ hark the herald angels sing glory to the newborn king ♪ [ applause ] >> thank you, anthony. great to have you here. >> great to be here. >> and thank you so much for joining us here on this thanksgiving day weekend. i hope you and your family have a great rest of the holiday

weekend, and we look forward to spending all of this time preparing for christmas. what a great way to start. until next week, this is mike huckabee from new york. good night and good bless.